Electric toy



March 17, 1925. 1,530,315

J. A. GRABENSTEIN ELECTRIC TOY Filed April '7, 1924 2 Shaets-Sheot l#hij f March 17, 1925. 1,530,315

J. A. GRBENSTIN ELECTRIC TOY ATTORN EY WITNESS:

' Be. it known that I, JOSEPH claims.

Patented Mar. 17, 1925.

` UNITED STATE SLPATEJNTO FEICE.

ELECTRIC aoY.v f'

Application med, April 7,

To all whomc't mayconf'em:

STEIN, a citizen of the United Sta-tes, resid,-` ing a'tvCumberland,inthe county olAllegany and State of Maryland, have invented newy anduseful Improvements in Electric Toys, ct which the following is avspecilicaf tion. u

This invention relates to improvements 1n electrically driven toys whichrun onntracks, the general object of the invention being to providemeans for causing the toy to come to a standstill for a vcertain' periodol' time and then 'to start moving along the trackl again, thus addingto the novelty of the device by automatically bringing it to a stopoccasionally during its actuation.

Anotherobject of the invention is to provide means ttor adjusting thestop periods ot the device. i

rlhis invention also consists in certain other features of constructionand inthe combination and arrangement of the several parts, to behereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawingsand specifically pointed out in the appended In describing' my inventionin detail, ret erence will be had to the. accompanying drawings whereinlike characters denote like Vor corresponding parts throughout the sev#eral views, and in which .Figure 1 is an elevation of a casingcontaining the attachment. f

Figure 2 is a section on line 2--2 of Figure 1. l

Figure 3 is a section on line 3-3 lof Figure 2.

Figures .4` and 5 switch disc.

are face views` of the F igure 6 is a diagrammatic view showinO c ta 2:

the invention attached to acircular track.y

In these views, 1 indicates the rai-ls of a circular track and 2thethird rail, one of the rails 1 and the rail 2 being connected with asuitable source of power by the conductorsl y 3 which are connected withther usual transvformer, 4. A motor 5 is connected with the conductorsand rheostats G are arranged in the circuit for controlling the flow ofcurrent to the motorand to thethird rail. As will be' understood, when atoy, such as a' train of cars, is placed on the track a part thereonwill bridge the third rail and the track so that vthe circuit will becompleted to the motor on the toy so that Athe same will be A."GIRABEN-v lof the belt 11an'd the pulleys12,the chain Vwhich is held inengagement-'with the disc 1924.A serien No. 704,841.-

caused to move along thetrack. In lcarrying out my invention I insulatea portion 7 of the third railfrom the rest ofthe rail so v .that whenthe toy reaches :this `dead section the supply of current-to its motorwillbe cut 0E and the toy will come to rest. In

order 'to cause the'toy to begin to move again y I `provide means 'forsupplying current'to thev section 7' after a certain period of time,suchmeans vconsisting ot a' disc 8 of insulating materialn'iounted on ashaft9 which is which isfdrivenfrom the motor 5 bymea-ns of gearingbeing enclosed in a casing 18. The disc 8 carries a curvedy contactstrip 14 which is adapted to contact with a contact point 15, preferablyformed of carbon, and

by a. spring contact 16 which is electrically connected with the livep-art of the third rail by a! conductor 17. y This spring ycontact isadjustable by means of the screw 18 kandthe yconnected by a chainof'gearing to a shaft 10 `r member 15 is slidably mounted in a partition80 19 of the casing 20y which encloses the motor, the disc and theirassociated parts. This cas# ing and partition are 'formed of insnlatiiirmaterial. The metal shaft of the disc 8 strip 21 and the current willflow from said metal shaftthrough the metal `parts ofthe gear train tothe conductors 22 which are connected with the portion 7 of the thirdrail. t f

. It will thus be seen that the disc 8 is rotated from the motor 5 anduntil the strip 14 in willnot receive any current; The toy will`remainidle until the-disc is turned to bring the contact strip 14against the contact mem-f- `ber 15, when' current will'be provided tothe section` 7 throughthe' live part of the third connected with thestrip 14 by a conducting 85 rail, the conductor 17 strip 16,'member y15and the strips 14andV 21 through the metal lparts of the gear train andconductor 22 to said part 7. rThen the toy will Abegin to move again.and will pass from the ysection y 7 on to the main part. By adjustingthe speed of' the motor `5, the rotation of the disc 8 can be controlledto cause the toy to stop every time it reaches the section 7 or it maybe caused to revolve one or more times around the track and then to stopon the section 7.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages andnovel features of my invention Will be readily apparent.

l desire it to he understood that l mayy make changes in theconstruction and in the combination and arrangement ot the severalparts, provided that such changes iall Within the scope ot' the appendedclaims.

What l claim is 1.- l

l, lin an electric toy, a track comprisingA a third rail having aninsulated portion, .a motor, means for supplying current to the motorand to both the sections of the third 'ra-il and a lswitch iforcontrol-ling the iow oi' current to the insulated section, such switchconsisting ot' a disc ont insulated material and having a conductingstrip therein, a contact arranged to engage the strip during therotation ot the disc, means for connecting the contact with the majorpart ot the third rail, means tor connecting the conducting.

strip with the insulated section of the third rail and means for drivingthe disc from the motor.

2. An electric toy comprising a track, a third rail having an insulatedsection, a motor, means tor supplying current to the motor and to bothparts of the third rail,

rireostats in the circuits ot the motor andV with the major portion otthe third rail and f means tor electrically connecting the conductingstrip through the gears and a conductor with the insulated section otthe third rail.

ln testimony whereof l altra; my signature.

JOSEPH A. GRBENSTEIN.

